Information processing system and information processing method and service supplying method for use with the system

ABSTRACT

In each of the information processing apparatuses connected to each other via a network, there is arranged a quality of service (QOS) table to which functions and performance thereof are registered. When an information processing apparatus is additionally linked with the network, a QOS table thereof is automatically registered to a local directory of the network such that an agent converts the contents of the QOS table into service information to be supplied via a user interface to the user. Thanks to the operation, information of functions and performance of each information processing apparatus connected to the network is converted into service information for the user. Consequently, the user can much more directly receive necessary services.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to an information processing systemin which services are provided to end users of apparatuses connected viaa network to each other and an information processing method and aservice providing method for use with the information processing system.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] There has been generally known a client server system.(CSS)including a network and a multiplicity of apparatuses which areconnected via the network to each other and which include servermachines having resources such as a large-capacity disk and a pluralityof client machines to be operated individually by users so as tocommunicate information between the linked apparatuses. In mostapplications of the client server system, resources of server machinesare shared among the users, for example, a disk resource of a servermachine is commonly used to share a file thereon and/or a printercoupled with a printer server is shared among the users. Thanks to therecent development of basic software such as a network operating system(to be simply called network OS herebelow) and hardware including serverand client machines, it is possible to implement environments of theclient server systems for highly advanced utilizations and applicationsthereof.

[0005] For example, the Open Software Foundation (OSF) established as astandardization committee of computer industries has proposed an OSF DCE(to be abbreviated as DCE herebelow). In a complex network environmentincluding different kinds of apparatuses, DCE provides such services asa directory service, a yellow page service, and an access right service.

[0006] In the directory service, a name specified by a user is convertedinto address information in the actual network system. This service issimilar to the telephone number indexing service according to atelephone directory. The yellow page service is an additional functionof the directory service. In place of the name, there can be used afunction or an attribute to attain address information, which is similarto the indexing service through a classified telephone directory. Thecertification and access right services are used to conduct a securitycheck when a user subscribes to the system or operates functions of thesystem, for example, to examine whether or not the user possesses theaccess right. Namely, these services are supported to control thesystem.

[0007] OSF DCE has been described in detail, for example, in the“Technology of OSF DCE” published by Soft Research Center Inc. on Aug.25, 1992 (ISBN 4-915778-15-0).

[0008] According to services provided in the present CSS environmentsdescribed above, when receiving a particular service, end usersoperating client machines are required to pay attention to usage of theservice in most cases. For example, when a file is shared betweenclients, it is necessary to specify the file name assigned by thepartner to the shared file and a position of the directory in the ownclient machine to which the shared file is registered (mounting of thefile). Only after the above operations are completed, the file can beshared between the clients.

[0009] Some systems can be accessed by the end user without consideringany particular service. However, in such systems, the system manager isrequired to beforehand set the desired services according to the presentstage of art. According to DCE, services are enriched primarily for themanagers conducting the system management. This consequently leads to aproblem that end users can actually access only the information itemsand services beforehand set by the system manager.

[0010] Additionally, as the range of apparatuses and devices connectibleto CSS is expanded, there appear various kinds of end users accessingthe system. This increases chances in which the system is operated bybeginners of the system who are learning information related tooperations and functions of information processing apparatuses. In sucha case, there arises a problem that the services supported by CSS andavailable by end users are hardly utilized.

[0011] Furthermore, when accessing the system, most end users do nothave special knowledge about specifications and characteristics ofapparatuses of the system. For example, the users operate apparatuseswithout recognizing functions and services supported by devices (such asdisks), for example, the remaining capacity and transfer performance ofeach disk and reliability of data storage. Consequently, only the systemexperts can appropriately utilize the system resources. Namely, thesystem can be operated only in an inefficient fashion by the ordinaryend users.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide aninformation processing system, a method for use with the same, and aservice providing method for use in the system which allow users notfully versed in services of the system to appropriate utilize theservices of the system, thereby solving the problems above.

[0013] Another object of the present invention is to provide aninformation processing system, a method for use with the same, and aservice providing method for use in the system which allows users notfully versed in services of CSS to appropriately utilize the services ofCSS.

[0014] Further another object of the present invention is to provide aninformation processing system, a method for use with the same, and aservice providing method for use in the system which guarantees qualityof service (QSO) supported for end users by the system.

[0015] To solve the problems above according to the present invention,there is provided an agent function including two kinds of agents,namely, a personal agent to control user information so as to relate aservice supported by the information processing system to a processrequested by the user and a terminal agent to control the apparatuses.The terminal agent supervises information items of functions,performance, and the like of apparatuses connected to the network toconvert such information into service information necessary for theuser. Moreover, the terminal agent controls terminals and clientsoperated by users. The personal agent provides data control and serviceoperations customized for each user.

[0016] According to the present invention, there is disposed a serviceinformation conversion section to transform information of functions,performance, and the like of the respective apparatuses into serviceinformation. The conversion section includes a general serviceconversion table for the terminal agent to convert service informationand a personal service conversion table for the personal agent toconvert service information customized for the pertinent user.

[0017] Moreover, according to the present invention, the terminal agentcontrols the basic portion of the user interface for the terminal andclient operated by the user and converts information of functions andperformance of the apparatuses connected to the network into serviceinformation for the user interface. The personal agent furthersupervises such customized functions as information of the securityfunction for each user in relation to the user interface.

[0018] According to the present invention, for each of the apparatusesconnected to each other via the network, there is arranged a quality ofservice (QSO) table defining information of functions and performance ofthe apparatus. The plural QSO tables are controlled by a local directoryfor each cell corresponding to a small range of the network. All localdirectories covering the entire network system are controlled by aglobal directory.

[0019] In addition, according to the present invention, when anapparatus is coupled to the network, a QOS table is automaticallyregistered to the local directory. Furthermore, when the contents ofregistration are modified in the local directory, the changed contentsare notified to the global directory.

[0020] According to the present invention, there is employed broadcastmeans as the means for registering the QOS table to the local directory.

[0021] Furthermore, according to the present invention, there aredisposed in the information processing apparatus state monitoring meansfor monitoring the state of each section of the apparatus, means foraccumulating therein information of the state thus collected by thestate monitoring means, and a network interface to be used only by thestate monitoring means.

[0022] According to the present invention, there is provided aninformation processing system including a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a table to which information offunctions and performance is registered, a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other, a directoryconnected to the network for controlling the tables of the respectiveinformation processing apparatuses, and an agent function operable ineither one of the information processing apparatuses for referencingcontents of the control operation of the directory and supplying a userwith the information of functions and performance of informationprocessing apparatuses registered to the table. Furthermore, in theinformation processing system, the agent function includes a userassociated operation for conducting a customizing operation for eachuser and thereby supplying the service information to the user, and anoperation for supplying the user with service information independent ofany particular user. In addition, in the information processing system,the information of functions and performance to be registered to thetable includes either one or all of a transfer speed, a randominput/output performance, an access time, a bit error ratio, a mean timeto data loss (MTTDL), a mean time for data availability (MTDA).Moreover, in the information processing system, the information offunctions and performance to be registered to the table includes eitherone or all of a name of the information processing apparatus and a type,function, performance of an input/output device of the informationprocessing apparatus.

[0023] According to the present invention, there is provided aninformation processing system comprising information processingapparatuses each having a QOS table to which functions and performanceto be supplied via a network to a user is registered, wherein theapparatuses are connected to the network.

[0024] Additionally, according to the present invention, there isprovided an information processing system including a plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses each having a table to whichinformation of functions and performance is registered, a network forconnecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other,and a directory connected to the network for controlling the tables ofthe respective information processing apparatuses.

[0025] Furthermore, according to the present invention, there isprovided an information processing system including a plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses each having a table to whichinformation of functions and performance is registered, a network forconnecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other,a local directory connected to the network for controlling the tables ofthe respective information processing apparatuses, and a globaldirectory for controlling the local directory.

[0026] Moreover, according to the present invention, there is providedan information processing system including a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a table to which information offunctions and performance is registered, a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other, a directoryconnected to the network for controlling the tables of the respectiveinformation processing apparatuses, and an agent function operable ineither one of the information processing apparatuses for referencingcontents of the control operation of the directory and converting theinformation of functions and performance registered to the table intoservice information, thereby supplying a user with the obtained serviceinformation.

[0027] In addition, according to the present invention, there isprovided an information processing system including a plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to whichinformation of functions and performance is registered, a network forconnecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other alocal directory connected to the network for controlling a plurality ofQOS tables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set ofsmall-sized areas, a global directory for controlling a plurality oflocal directories in a global area of the unit of local areas, and anagent function operable in either one of the information processingapparatuses for referencing contents respectively of the global andlocal directories and converting the information of functions andperformance registered to the QOS table into service informationrepresenting quality of service, thereby supplying a user with theobtained service information.

[0028] Furthermore, in the information processing system, the agentfunction includes a user associated operation for conducting acustomizing operation for each user and thereby supplying the serviceinformation to the user and an operation for supplying the user withservice information independent of any particular user. According to thepresent invention, in the information processing system, the agentfunction includes reading contents of the plural QOS tables registeredto the local directory, detecting a plurality of common functionsregistered to the QOS tables, and creating a service menu therefrom.

[0029] In addition, according to the present invention in theinformation processing system, the agent function further includesgenerating a QOS menu for each of the services and supplying the userwith the QOS menu. Moreover, in the information processing system, theQOS table includes as information of functions and performance of theinformation processing apparatus either one of a response time, aprocessing performance per unitary time, and a transfer speed.

[0030] Additionally, according to the present invention, there isprovided an information processing system including a plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to whichinformation of functions and performance is registered, a network forconnecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other,a local directory connected to the network for controlling a pluralityof QOS tables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set ofsmall-sized areas, a global directory for controlling a plurality oflocal directories in a global area of the unit of local areas andreceiving, when contents of the local directory are changed, anotification of change in the contents from the local directory, and anagent function operable in either one of the information processingapparatuses for supplying a user with the information of functions andperformance of the apparatus, wherein the agent modifies, according tocontents of the change in the global directory, contents of serviceinformation to be supplied to the user.

[0031] In the information processing system according to the presentinvention, the local directory reads, when a new information processingapparatus is connected to the network, a QOS table of the new apparatusand registers the QOS table to the system.

[0032] According to the present invention, in the local directory of theinformation processing system deletes, when one of the informationprocessing apparatuses is disconnected from the network, the QOS tableof the disconnected apparatus.

[0033] Furthermore, there is provided according to the present inventionan information processing system including a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information offunctions and performance is registered, a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other, a localdirectory connected to the network for controlling a plurality of QOStables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set ofsmall-sized areas, a global directory for controlling a plurality oflocal directories in a global area of the unit of local areas, and anagent function operable in either one of the information processingapparatuses for referencing contents respectively of the global andlocal directories and converting the information of functions andperformance registered to the QOS table into service informationrepresenting quality of service, thereby supplying the obtained serviceinformation to a user via a user interface. The agent changes, accordingto a utilization frequency of each service of the user and contents ofutilization of services, contents of the service information supplied tothe user via the user interface.

[0034] Additionally, in the information processing system of the presentinvention, the agent function in the information processing apparatusincludes a service access agent for controlling the user interface, apersonal agent service for achieving a customization corresponding toeach user and supplying the service information to the user and a publicagent service for supplying a plurality of services shared among theusers.

[0035] In the information processing system according to the presentinvention, the personal agent service is disposed in a client which is aterminal equipment in any one of the plural information processingapparatuses and a copy of the personal agent service is arranged in aserver which achieves a control operation in the plural informationprocessing apparatuses.

[0036] Moreover, in the information processing system, the agentfunction in the information processing apparatus includes monitoring astate of each application software initiated by each user and changing,according to a state of operation of the application software, contentsof the service information supplied to the user via the user interface.

[0037] Furthermore, according to the present invention, there areprovided an information processing method and an information processingsystem using the method including the steps of collecting by aninformation processing apparatus information of each input/output deviceconnected to a network when the apparatus is activated and notifying theinformation to other information processing apparatuses via the network.

[0038] Additionally, according to the present invention, there areprovided an information processing method and an information processingsystem using the method including the steps of transmitting a requestfor input/output device information from an information processingapparatus when the apparatus is activated to other informationprocessing apparatuses via a network and thereby collecting input/outputinformation of the information processing apparatuses.

[0039] In addition, according to the present invention, there areprovided an information processing method and an information processingsystem using the method including the steps of executing a predeterminedbenchmark program for a new information processing apparatus connectedto a network and registering a result of the test to a QOS table of adirectory.

[0040] In the information processing method and the informationprocessing system using the method, the notification is achieved by abroadcast communication.

[0041] According to the present invention, there is provided a servicesupplying method for use with an information processing system includinga network and information processing apparatuses connected thereto. Themethod includes the steps of collecting, when a request for informationof a state of each section of the information processing apparatus isreceived via the network, the information of the state of each sectionindependently of operation of the apparatus and transmitting theinformation to the network via a network interface of state monitormeans for monitoring the state of each section.

[0042] According to the present invention, there is provided a servicesupplying method for use with an information processing system includinga network and information processing apparatuses connected thereto. Themethod includes the steps of collecting, when a request for informationof a state of each section of the information processing apparatus isreceived according to a communication protocol via the network, theinformation of the state of each section independently of operation ofthe apparatus, converting the information according to the communicationprotocol, and transmitting the resultant information to the network viaa network interface of state monitor means for monitoring the state ofeach section.

[0043] Furthermore, according to the present invention, there isprovided an information processing system including a plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to whichinformation of functions and performance is registered and a network forconnecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other,wherein any desired one of the information processing apparatusesincludes an agent function for referencing contents of the QOS tables ofthe plural apparatuses connected to the network and converting theinformation of functions and performance of the apparatuses registeredto the QOS tables into service information representing quality ofservice, thereby supplying a user with the obtained service information.

[0044] Additionally, according to the present invention, there isprovided a service supplying method for use with an informationprocessing system in which a plurality of information processingapparatuses each having a QOS table to which information of functionsand performance is registered are connected to each other via a network.The method includes the steps of referencing, in an agent function ofany desired one of the apparatuses, contents of the QOS tables of theplural apparatuses connected to the network and converting theinformation of functions and performance of the apparatuses registeredto the QOS tables into service information representing quality ofservice, thereby supplying a user with the obtained service information.

[0045] Additionally, according to the present invention, the userinterface indicating QOS information representing functions,performance, and services of the information processing apparatusincludes either one or all of menu information items respectivelyrelated an online storage, a mobile picture quality, and a backupstorage.

[0046] According to the present invention, the terminal agent inquiresof the global and local directories via the network about the QOS tableof each apparatus connected to CSS and then converts obtainedinformation of functions and performance of the apparatus into serviceinformation necessary for the user, thereby supplying the serviceinformation directly to the user.

[0047] In case where the terminal agent achieves the conversion ofservice information, the information of functions and performance of theapparatus is transformed into service information necessary for the useraccording to the contents of registration in the general serviceconversion table of the service information conversion section.Consequently, service information to be delivered to the user can bealtered according to the contents of registration in the serviceinformation conversion section.

[0048] Furthermore, the terminal agent supervises the basic portion ofthe user interface of the client to display common functions and tosupply common services to each user. In consequence, when the contentsof the terminal agent is varied, the interfaces and service informationitems can be changed for all users.

[0049] The personal agent inquires of the global and local directoriesin a manner similar to that of the terminal agent about functions andperformance of each apparatus linked with CSS to convert the attainedinformation of functions and performance of the apparatus into serviceinformation necessary for the user so as to supply the serviceinformation to the user. When the service information is delivered fromthe personal agent to the user, an inquiry is sent to the terminal agentto send the service information to the user such that the terminal agentreports the information via the user interface to the user.

[0050] On receiving a service request from the user, the personal agentissues an inquiry for the contents of the QOS table of each apparatusregistered to the global and local directories to notify the user'sservice request to the apparatuses having functions and performanceassociated with the service request.

[0051] Moreover, in case where the personal agent converts informationof functions and performance of the apparatuses connected to CSS intoservice information necessary for the user, the conversion ofinformation is accomplished according to information of conversionregistered to the personal service conversion table of the serviceinformation conversion section. Consequently, arranging a personalservice conversion table for each user, it is possible to supply theuser with service information customized for the user.

[0052] The personal agent updates the contents of the personal serviceconversion table according to the frequency of service requests from therespective users and the utilization frequency of each particularservice.

[0053] As described above, the terminal and personal agents recognizeservice information of the respective apparatuses connected to CSS. Theterminal agent supervises the user interface to notify services to theusers, whereas the personal agent controls the contents of user'sservice requests. Communicating the above information between theterminal and personal agents, the service requests from the users can bemapped onto the system services.

[0054] According to the present invention, the state monitor meanscommunicates with the information processing system via the networkinterface dedicated to the state monitoring means. In response to arequest for information related to the state of each section of theinformation processing apparatus, the state monitor means collectsinformation via the network interface independently of operation of theinformation processing system, thereby transmitting the attainedinformation to the request source.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0055] These and other objects and advantages of the present inventionwill become apparent by reference to the following description andaccompanying drawings wherein:

[0056]FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the system configuration of anembodiment according to the present invention;

[0057]FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing an embodiment of thelocal directory according to the present invention;

[0058]FIG. 3 is a diagram showing structure of an embodiment of theservice information conversion section according to the presentinvention;

[0059]FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a flow of registration in the QOStable;

[0060]FIG. 5 is a diagram showing structure of an embodiment of theglobal directory according to the present invention;

[0061]FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an automatic generation of the QOStable;

[0062]FIG. 7 is a diagram showing another embodiment of the serviceinformation conversion section according to the present invention;

[0063]FIG. 8 is a diagram showing constitution of an embodiment of theagent according to-the present invention;

[0064]FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another constitution of the agentaccording to the present invention;

[0065]FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a service menu;

[0066]FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a QOS menu;

[0067]FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a login menu;

[0068]FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an initial service menu;

[0069]FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a display example of the personalagent;

[0070]FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a service menu of the personal agent;

[0071]FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a QOS menu of the personal agent;

[0072]FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a service menu of the personal agent;

[0073]FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an embodiment according of the fileservice according to the present invention;

[0074]FIG. 19 is a diagram showing a flow of QOS information of the fileservice;

[0075]FIG. 20 is a diagram showing the configuration of an embodimentrelated to a network according to the present invention;

[0076]FIG. 21 is a diagram showing structure of an embodiment of the QOStable according to the present invention;

[0077]FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the serviceinformation conversion table according to the present invention;

[0078]FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an embodiment of the user environmentinformation table according to the present invention;

[0079]FIG. 24 is a diagram showing details of information processingapparatus D;

[0080]FIG. 25 is a diagram showing an example of the service menu ofinformation processing apparatus D;

[0081]FIG. 26 is a diagram showing details of information processingapparatus E;

[0082]FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of the service menu ofinformation processing apparatus E;

[0083]FIG. 28 is a block diagram showing an example of service ofreliability, availability, and security (RAS) information;

[0084]FIG. 29 is a flowchart showing a flow of transmission of RASinformation; and

[0085]FIG. 30 is a diagram showing the format of RAS information.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0086] Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 9, description will be given of anembodiment of the computing service according to the present invention.

[0087]FIG. 1 shows in a block diagram the system configuration of theembodiment. In FIG. 1, information processing apparatuses A 101, B 104,C 107, D 111, and E 117 are connected to each other via a local areanetwork (LAN) 110. LAN 110 is linked with a wide area network (WAN) 123via the processor E as a communication server and hence is coupled withan information processing apparatus F 120 on WAN 123. The processingapparatuses A, B, D, and E respectively include QOS tables 102, 105,112, 118. The apparatuses A to F include terminal agents 103, 106, 109,113, 119, and 122, respectively. The terminal agents superviseinterfaces between the pertinent information processing apparatus andLAN 110 and other information processing apparatuses.

[0088] Description will be now given of a case in which the useroperates the apparatus D as a client. When the apparatus is activated,the terminal agent 113 and a personal agent 115 issue an inquiry to theapparatus 107 as a server on LAN 110 for resources on the networkregistered to a local directory 108. The terminal agent 109 of theapparatus C 107 transmits the contents of the local directory 108 to theinformation processor D 111.

[0089]FIG. 2 shows an example of constitution of the local directory. InFIG. 2, a QOS table registration section 301 includes registration items302 and registration contents 303. One QOS registration section 301corresponds to one QOS table of each information processing apparatus.An item representing a function or performance of the processor isregistered as the registration item 302, whereas the contents of theitem is set to the registration contents field 303. A network addressregistration section 304 includes resource names 305 of resourcesconnected to the system and network addresses 306.

[0090] In case where the user desires to access the processor from theprocessor D, the user issues a service request and receives the servicevia the terminal agent 113, personal agent 115, and service menu 116.The terminal agent 113, personal agent 115, and service menu 116 will bedescribed later in detail in paragraphs related to the user interface.On receiving a usage request for computing resources from the user, theterminal agent 113 inquires of the processor C 107 as the server aboutcomputing resources. The terminal agent 109 of the processor Caccomplishes a retrieval operation for the contents of the localdirectory 108 to sends information of functions and performance of theregistered computing resources via LAN 110 to the processor D 111. Onreceiving information, the terminal agent 113 converts the informationby a service information conversion section 114 into service informationfor the user to report the service information to the user via thepersonal agent 115 and service menu 116.

[0091]FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of the service information conversionsection 114 according to the present invention. In FIG. 3, the section114 includes a general information conversion table 307 to conductconversion for service information common to the plural users and apersonal service conversion table 310 corresponding to a particularuser.

[0092] The general service conversion table 307 includes a table 308 tostore therein information of functions and performance of resourcesconnected to the network and attained from the local directory 108 ofthe server and a table 309 to accumulate therein service information tothe user corresponding to the functions and performance of theresources. Moreover, there is stored in the personal service conversiontable 310 service conversion information for the personal agent 115 tooptimize the service menu for the pertinent user according to theservice utilization state of the user and the operation state ofapplication software in the processor D 111.

[0093] For example, FIG. 3 shows a case in which the display sequence ofservices are altered in the service menu 116 according to the state ofutilizations of respective services. For each service information itemsupported by the terminal agent 113, the personal agent 115 registersthe utilization frequency of the user to a usage frequency table 311 toregister items to a display order table 312 indicating the displaysequence of the services on the service menu according to theutilization frequency. According to the information items registered tothe personal service conversion table 310, the user agent displays themenu in association with the degree of operation dexterity andutilization state of each user.

[0094] Next, description will be given of a case in which theinformation processing apparatus (processor) B 104 is connected to LAN110 in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1. When linking a new informationprocessor with the information processing system including the network,a QOS table 105 of the processor B 104 is registered to the localdirectory 108 controlled by the information processing apparatus(server) C 107. FIG. 4 shows the flow of registration of the QOS table105. When the processor B 104 is coupled with LAN 110 (step 401), theterminal agent 106 transmits a broadcast message to notify connectionand activation of the processor B 104 to the other apparatuses on thenetwork.

[0095] The terminal agent 109 of the processing apparatus C 107 as theserver on the network requests the processor B 104 to transmit theretothe contents of the QOS table 105 (step 403). The terminal agent 106sends the contents of the QOS table 105. The terminal agent 109registers the contents of the QOS table 105 to the local directory 108(step 405). Moreover, the apparatus C 107 reports the modification ofthe contents of the local directory 108 via a communication server 117to a global directory 121 controlled by the apparatus F 120 on WAN 123(step 407). The terminal agent 122 registers the modification of thelocal directory 108 to the global directory 121 (step 407) and thenterminates the operation.

[0096]FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of the global directory 121 accordingto the present invention. The global directory includes a localdirectory registration part 313 to which the plural local directories ofthe system are registered and a resource registration part 316 to whichtypes of resources registered to the local directories are registered.The local directory registration part 313 includes local directory names314 and gateway addresses of LAN 315 controlled by each local directory.The gateway address filed 315 contains a logical or physical addressdecided by a protocol of the network. Registered to the resourceregistration part 316 are resource types 317 controlled by the localdirectories and connection directories 318 of the respective resources.

[0097] On receiving an inquiry for a resource from a terminal agent, theglobal directory 121 is accessed such that the resource registrationpart 316 is first referenced to decide the resource type 317 andconnection directory 318 and then the gateway address 315 of thepertinent local directory is transmitted from the local directoryregistration part 313. The network address of the server supervising thelocal directory may be transmitted in place of the gateway address 315.

[0098]FIG. 6 shows a flow of operation to connect an informationprocessing apparatus not having the QOS table to the system. For theapparatus not including the QOS, for example, for a computing resource,it is only necessary to execute a predetermined benchmark program so asto register the result thereof as a QOS table to the local directory108. In FIG. 6, when the processing apparatus B 104 of FIG. 1 isconnected to LAN 110 and the QOS table is missing in the apparatus B 104(steps 408 and 409), the processing apparatus C 107 sends apredetermined benchmark program to the apparatus B 104 (step 410). Theapparatus B 104 executes the benchmark program and then transmits theresult thereof to the apparatus C 107. The subsequent operations are thesame as for the apparatus B 104 having the QOS table.

[0099]FIG. 7 shows another embodiment of the service informationconversion part 114 of FIG. 1 according to the present invention. In theservice information conversion part 114, information of functions andperformance of the information processing apparatuses is converted intoservice information for the users. For this purpose, as shown in FIG. 7,the general service conversion table 319 contains as the information offunctions and performance the number of effective FIGS. 320 of eachprocessor as the computing resource of the system such that the numberof effective FIGS. 320 is transformed into a user service informationitem 321 indicating a suitable usage of the processor. Moreover, in thepersonal service conversion table 324, the number of effective FIGS. 322is transformed into a predetermined benchmark program result 323 as theuser service information. The number of effective figures of theprocessor can be set by selecting a desired benchmark program so as toachieve processing according to a favorable evaluation method or adesired processing precision.

[0100] Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9, description will be given of theagent function according to the present invention. FIG. 8 showsconstitution of an embodiment of the agent function according to thepresent invention. An agent function 150 is implemented by softwareoperating in the information processing apparatus 160. Each part of theagent function 150 operates as follows. A hardware virtual layer 159copes with or absorbs differences between the plural apparatuses 160 tosuppress influences of hardware discrepancies upon operation ofsoftware. A file system 157 controls a file system 171 of the apparatus160, whereas a network interface (I/F) 155 supervises a networkinterface 163. A DCE support 156 has a function to support open softwarefoundation (OFS)/DCE environments. OFS/DCE has already been described inconjunction with the conventional example and hence will not bedescribed in this paragraph.

[0101] A general service conversion table 173 and a personal serviceconversion table 172 collectively correspond to the service informationconversion part 114 of FIG. 1. The conversion table 173 is aregistration table to transform information of system functions andperformance shared among the plural users into service information forthe users. The personal service conversion table 172 is a table foraccumulating therein such information of each user as informationrelated to transformation of service information for a particular userand customized information of the user interface 152. A kernel 154 isthe primary function of the agent to control the other functionalblocks. A shell 151 and the user interface 152 are arranged in anapplication interface 153. The user interface 152 controls a cathode-raytube (CRT) 161 of the apparatus 160 to support the interface operationfor the users.

[0102] The apparatus 160 includes peripheral devices such as a keyboard(K/B) 168, a read-only memory (ROM) 169, and a flash memory 170. Theseperipheral devices are connected via a system bus 164 to a CPU 161 and amain memory 162.

[0103] Ordinarily, the agent is stored in a non-volatile memory such asthe ROM 169 or flash memory 170 or in a secondary storage such as a filesystem 171. After the system operation is started, the agent is loadedin the main memory 162 to be executed by the CPU 161. The QOS tables102, 105, 112, and 118 of FIG. 1 are usually stored in the non-volatilememory such as the ROM 169 or flash memory 170. When the system isinitiated, these tables are stored in the main memory 162 or the filesystem 171 by the agent 150.

[0104]FIG. 9 shows another example of the agent.

[0105] In FIG. 9, the agent includes a terminal agent 175 to conductconversion for services shared among the plural users and a personalagent 174 to customize a service conversion method and a user interfacefor a particular user. The personal agent 174 communicates informationvia the terminal agent 175. The other constituent components of FIG. 9are the same as those shown in FIG. 8 and hence description thereof willbe avoided.

[0106] Referring next to FIGS. 10 to 17, description will be given of anembodiment of the user interface of QOS according to the presentinvention.

[0107] This embodiment is an example of access from a satellite officeto a home office. When an arbitrary terminal is activated in thesatellite office, the terminal agent of the terminal starts itsoperation to display a service menu (FIG. 10) indicating servicesavailable from the terminal. In the service menu of FIG. 10, the serviceitems are displayed in the utilization frequency order under control ofthe terminal agent of the terminal.

[0108] When connecting the terminal to the host computer of the homeoffice, the user selects “Connect to host” from the menu and then clicksthe pertinent input device. On receiving the notification of operation,the terminal agent of the terminal displays the QOS menu (FIG. 11) forconditions of connection methods.

[0109] In the embodiment, the QOS menu of FIG. 11 includes fourselection items “None”, “Quick even expensive”, “Less expensive evenslow”, and “Set details”. When “None” is selected, the terminal agentchooses a route according to the default value to connect the terminalto the host computer of the home office.

[0110] When the user selects “Quick even expensive”, the terminal agentestablishes a route to carry out communication at an available highestspeed. When “Less expensive even slow” is selected, there is chosen aroute for communication at a possibly lowest cost. When the user selects“Set details”, the selection of the route is achieved by the user.Assume that the user selects “None” in this embodiment. In this case,the terminal agent selects a route according to the default value toestablish connection to the host computer of the home office, and alogin screen (FIG. 12) of the host computer is presented on theterminal.

[0111] Although the login screen of FIG. 12 is similar to that used inthe conventional, an icon of the terminal agent is displayed in theupper-left corner of the screen. When the user clicks the icon whennecessary, the terminal agent of the terminal is invoked to conduct anoperation to change the setting of, for example, the screen size. Whenthe login is normally executed, the personal agent is initiated in thehost computer of the home office and then there is presented an initialservice menu screen (FIG. 13) corresponding individually to the user.

[0112] In FIG. 13, the personal agent indicates reception of threeelectronic mail items for the user and two circular notices of thework-flow software. The service menu includes items of “E-mail (readelectric mail)”, “Circular notice (examine notice)”, and “Later”. Whenthe user chooses “E-mail”, the electronic mail software is invoked todisplay the first mail item. When “Circular notice” is selected, thework-flow software is activated to present the first circular notice.When the user selects “Later”, the personal agent displays anotherservice menu. Assume that the user selects “Circular notice” in thisembodiment. In response thereto, the personal agent initiates thework-flow software to present the first circular notice, namely,circular notice 1 (FIG. 14).

[0113] In the screen of the work-flow software shown in FIG. 14, theuser can process circular notices according to the operation procedureof the pertinent software. Although the screen image of FIG. 14 issimilar to the login screen image conventionally used, there aredisplayed icons respectively of the terminal agent and personal agent inthe upper-left corner of the screen. When necessary, the user clickseither one of the icons to invoke the desired agent. In this embodiment,it is assumed that the user activates the personal agent icon to startoperation of the personal agent.

[0114] In this situation, the work-flow software is concealed in thebackground and a service menu (FIG. 15) is presented by the personalagent. When it is desired to produce a printout of circular notice 1,the user selects “Print circular notice 1” from the service menu of FIG.15 and clicks the input device. The service menu of FIG. 15 iscontrolled in the frequency order by the personal agent. The personalagent monitors the state of the work-flow software in the background andhence “Print circular notice 1”, “To next circular notice”, and the likeare added to the menu.

[0115] When the user chooses “Print circular notice 1”, the personalagent presents a QOS menu screen for printout (FIG. 16). In thisembodiment, the QOS menu includes three selection items, i.e., “None”,“Home office”, and “Other setting”. Prior to displaying the screen imageof FIG. 16, the personal agent recognizes according to information fromthe terminal agent that the user has executed “Login” from the satelliteoffice. Consequently, when the user selects “None” from the QOS menu ofFIG. 16, the printing operation is accomplished in the satellite officeand “Home office” is additionally presented in the QOS menu. When theuser chooses “Home office”, the printout is produced in the home office;whereas, when “Other setting” is selected, the printing location andother items are set by the user.

[0116] The embodiment shows a case in which the user selects “None”.

[0117] In this situation, the printing operation is carried out in thesatellite office and the personal agent displays again the service menuscreen (FIG. 17) if possible. The screen image of FIG. 17 is basicallythe same as that of FIG. 15. Only the contents of the service menu varytherebetween because the personal agent has reconstructed the servicemenu according to the printing operation of the circular document.

[0118] According to the user interface of the present inventiondescribed above, the agents re-configure the contents of the servicemenu and/or the QOS menu according to the utilization frequency of theuser or operation contents.

[0119] The terminal and personal agents in the embodiment abovecorrespond respectively to the terminal agent 113 and personal agent 115in the embodiment of the computing service described above.

[0120] Referring now to FIGS. 18 and 19, description will be given of anembodiment of the file service according to the present invention. Toimplement the embodiment of the present invention, there are requiredtwo control methods including (1) a method of controlling the userinterface of the file service in the computer network and (2) a methodof controlling quality of service (QOS) of file service devices linkedwith the computer network. Since the first control method has alreadybeen described in conjunction with the embodiment of the user interface,description will be given in detail of the second control method andinformation to be passed from the second control method to the firstcontrol method in the file service.

[0121] First, referring to FIG. 18, description will be given of the QOScontrol server of the file service devices. The computer network ishierarchically supervised according to the unit of zones and domains. AQOS control server is arranged for each control unit such as the zone ordomain. The QOS information 205 of the file service device 208 and anidentifiers (ID) to identify the device on the network or a namecorresponding thereto are registered to be hierarchically controlled.

[0122] In the hierarchic structure including zones and domains of FIG.18, there are established correspondences between local areas 201supervised by a lower-layer QOS control server and global areas 202respectively constituted with a plurality of local areas 201 andcontrolled by a higher-layer QOS control server. In FIG. 18, the QOSinformation 205 of each information processing apparatus connected toLAN 206 in the local areas 201 and an identifier of the device or a namecorresponding thereto are registered to the local QOS control server203.

[0123] A portion or all of the registration contents of the QOS controlserver is or are registered to the global QOS control server 204 via thegateway 205 of the global area 202 including the local areas 201 and thebasic LAN 207.

[0124] Operations of the other sections of FIG. 18 are the same as thoseof the components of the embodiment of the computing service and hencedescription thereof will be avoided.

[0125] Next, description will be given of the contents of QOS of fileservice devices.

[0126] For QOS of file service devices, there can be considered variouslevels including classification according to quality of service mostclose to device characteristics at a lower level and classificationclosely associated with file characteristics at a higher level. As afavorable embodiment of the present invention, the lower-level andhigher-level QOS items are set as follows.

[0127] 1. Lower-level QOS items

[0128] Transfer speed (sequential performance), random I/O performance,access time;

[0129] Bit error ratio, mean time to data loss (MTTDL), mean time fordata availability (MTDA);

[0130] Bit cost.

[0131] 2. Higher-level QOS items

[0132] Online storage (ordinary file);

[0133] Mobile picture (e.g., resolution of 640×480 in MPEG format, HDTVquality);

[0134] Backup storage.

[0135] Next, description will be given of the method of registering thefile service devices to the QOS control server. According to the presentinvention, when a file service device is connected to the computernetwork or to a computer on the network, it is desired to automaticallyregister the device to the QOS control server. For this purpose, it isonly necessary that each device keeps the own QOS in a non-volatilestorage so as to notify the QOS information to the control server whenthe device is linked with the network or computer.

[0136] When a device to be directly connected to the network is poweredor connected to the network, the own QOS is autonomously reported to thecontrol server. For a device to be connected to the computer, when thecomputer recognizes that the device is coupled therewith, it is onlynecessary for the computer to read the QOS information of the device soas to register the QOS information to the control server. For thecomputer to sense the event of connection the device, there may beperiodically conducted a polling operation to recognize presence orabsence of the device or there may be employed, for example, aninput/output bus capable of sensing the event of connection of thedevice according to the protocol of input/output buses such as power andsignal lines. Notification of QOS from the device to the computer can beaccomplished as follows. For example, in response to a Mode Sensecommand from the computer (initiator in the SCSI), the device (target inthe SCSI) issues a response.

[0137] In FIG. 18, when the file service device 208 is linked with LAN206, the device 208 reads its own QOS information 209 and notifies theQOS information 209 to the local QOS control server 203. The server 203registers the QOS information 209 and a portion or all of the QOSinformation 209 to the global QOS control server 204 on the basic LAN207.

[0138] Subsequently, description will be given of information to bepassed from the QOS control server to the user interface.

[0139] The information items of file server devices from the QOS controlserver to the user interface includes the following items.

[0140] 1. Name or identifier to identify the device on the network

[0141] 2. QOS at each level

[0142] The user interface selectively decides according to a levelassigned to the user and a request from the user which one of the levelsof QOS is to be presented to the user.

[0143] In FIG. 19, a QOS control server 210 and a user client 212 areconnected to each other via LAN 211. A user interface 213 which is anapplication system operating on the user client requests via LAN 211 theQOS control server 210 to send thereto QOS information at a levelaccording a user's request. The server 210 sends the requested QOSinformation. If the pertinent QOS information is missing in the server210, the request for QOS information is transmitted to another QOScontrol server at a higher hierarchic level.

[0144] Operation of the user interface of FIG. 19 has already beendescribed in detail in conjunction with the embodiments respectively ofthe user interface and computing service. Consequently, descriptionthereof will be avoided.

[0145] Subsequently, description will be given of an embodiment relatedto the network. FIG. 20 shows an example of the system configuration ofthe embodiment. LAN 612 is connected to information processingapparatuses A 601, B 605, C 609, D 613, E 619, and F 625. In thisembodiment, the apparatuses A 601, B 605, C 609, and E 625 are serversfor mainly providing services, whereas the apparatuses D 613 and E 619are clients to mainly receive the services. The apparatus A 601 iscoupled with a highly reliable disk 604 in the redundant arrays ofinexpensive disks (RAID) configuration, whereas the apparatus B 605 iscoupled with a disk 608 having a high access speed. The apparatus E 625is also connected to another LAN 628 and functions as a higher-levelserver.

[0146] Next, operation of the present invention will be described. Whenpowered, the information processing apparatus A 601 linked with LAN 612executes its initial setting operation to load the operating system ormonitor program and then initializes the program so as to set up theterminal agent 603, thereby finally establishing the utilizationenvironment.

[0147] During the initial setup operation or initialization of theoperating system, there is acquired QOS information of input/outputdevices connected to the system. For example, when the input/outputdevice is connected via SCSI, an Inquiry command is issued to gatherinformation of functions of the device. For another input/outputinterface, the QOS information is obtained according to an informationcollecting method supported by the interface. There may be used suchinterfaces as RS232C, Centronics, bidirectional Centronics, and GPIB.

[0148] The QOS information to be gathered includes values of functionsand performance, for example, those of the capacity and transferperformance for disks and those of print speed, print line density,color or monochrome, and print form size.

[0149] In case where the connected I/O device does not have anyinterface providing QOS information, the QOS information is manually setto the file or non-volatile memory from an external device such that thecontents thereof are read from the storage when the device is activated,thereby gathering the QOS information. When the connected I/O devicesupplies only partial information, the remaining necessary informationis manually set as above or the system default values are loaded in thefile or non-volatile memory. When the information processing apparatusis activated, the stored QOS information is obtained from the storage tothereby gather the QOS information.

[0150] The collected QOS information is accumulated in a QOS table 602of the information processing apparatus. FIG. 21 shows an example ofconstitution of the QOS table 602.

[0151] When the QOS table 602 is completely created for the connectedI/O devices, the apparatus A 601 notifies initiation of the own systemto the other information processing apparatuses. In this operation, theQOS table 602 of the own system is also transferred. For the transfer ofthe table 602, there is employed a broadcast address on the network topass the table 602 to the destinations. On receiving the notification,the apparatus C 609 as a control server in the network having a localdirectory stores the table 602 in the local directory. The otherinformation processing apparatuses store the received QOS table 602 whennecessary. Specifically, the terminal agent of the pertinent apparatusmakes a check to decide necessity of the information. If necessary, theinformation is stored as internal data. The decision is conductedaccording to a predetermined condition or to whether or not there iscontained I/O information.

[0152] Subsequently, when information of the QOS table 602 requested inthe past includes QOS table information of another informationprocessing apparatus, a terminal agent 603 of the apparatus A 601 issuesan inquiry to the apparatus for the QOS table information.

[0153] For the inquiry, there is adopted, for example, a method using abroadcast address. The apparatus which has received the inquiry andwhich is connected to a requested I/O device transfers QOS tableinformation thereof to the inquiry source, namely, the apparatus A 601.When receiving QOS table information from a plurality of apparatuses inresponse to the inquiry, the apparatus A 601 assigns each QOS tableinformation with priority according to a predetermined criterion. Thecriterion may be related to positional information such as “QOSinformation belonging to the same network” and/or to difference in I/Operformance. In addition, the criterion for decision is specified, forexample, according to the system default value or by the system manager.

[0154] Furthermore, the inquiry may be issued to the apparatus C 609having the local directory. When there is missing a server having aglobal directory in the network, the QOS table in the local directory610 of the apparatus C 609 is transmitted to the apparatus A 601. Whensuch a server having the global directory (the apparatus E 625 in thiscase) is connected to the network, QOS table information of the localdirectory is delivered to the apparatus E 625 having the globaldirectory when the apparatus is activated. On receiving an inquiry forthe QOS table from the apparatus A 601, the apparatus C 609 issues aninquiry to the apparatus E 625 so as to send the QOS table obtained inresponse thereto from the apparatus E 625 and QOS table information ofthe local directory to the apparatus A 601. As a result, the necessaryQOS table information is transmitted to the apparatus A 601.

[0155] As already described in conjunction with the apparatus a 601, theQOS table information can be communicated and created in the similarfashion by an information processing apparatus functioning as a server.

[0156] Referring next to FIGS. 24 and 25, description will be given ofoperation of the apparatus D 613 as a client. When the apparatus D 613is initiated, a terminal agent thereof is already in the activatedstate. The terminal agent 615 possesses a QOS table 614 and a terminalservice information conversion table 629 for conversion of terminalservices. An end user 618 invokes a personal agent 616 thereof via theterminal agent 615 to execute the login operation to the apparatus D613. The activated personal agent 616 has a personal agent serviceinformation conversion table 630 and user environment information 631and displays a service menu 617 according to the user environmentinformation 631. FIGS. 22 and 23 show structure of the serviceinformation conversion table and constitution of the user environmentinformation table. FIG. 25 shows an example of the presented servicemenu. FIG. 25 is a data storing menu in which the RAID of the apparatusA 601 is indicated as a file with backup function and the high-speeddisk of the apparatus B 605 is denotes as a storage capable of storingtherein data in a short period of time. When the user conducts anoperation according to indications of the service menu 617 and there isresultantly required an I/O access, the personal agent 616 performs aretrieval operation through the service information conversion table 630to execute an I/O access if there exists necessary information. If suchinformation is missing, the personal agent 616 requests the terminalagent 615 to effect retrieval through the terminal service informationconversion table 629. If the requested information has already beenregistered, the terminal agent 615 returns the terminal serviceinformation conversion table 629 to the personal agent 616 as therequest source. If the requested information is missing, the terminalagent 615 carries out an operation similar to that of the inquiry toacquire the necessary QOS table information. According to the obtainedQOS table information, the terminal agent 615 updates the table 629 andthen returns the updated table 629 to the personal agent 616. As aresult of above operations, there is configured a service accessenvironment for the end user 618 in the apparatus D 613.

[0157] Next, referring to FIGS. 26 and 27, description will be given ofoperation of the client apparatus E 619. The apparatus E 619 differsfrom the apparatus D 613 in that a terminal agent 621 and a personalagent 622 are connected in a parallel fashion to each other. This allowsan end user 624 to achieve a change-over operation between the agentwhen necessary. When the apparatus E 619 is activated, the terminalagent 621 is in the invoked state. The terminal agent 621 has a QOStable 620 and a terminal service information conversion table 633 forachieving conversion of terminal services. The end user 624 initiates apersonal agent 622 thereof via the terminal agent 621 to conduct a loginoperation to the apparatus 619. As a result of the login, the processingobject is changed over from the terminal agent 621 to the personal agent622. Like the apparatus D 613, the personal agent 622 has a personalagent service information conversion table 634 and user environmentinformation 635 to display a service menu 623 according to the userenvironment information 635. FIG. 27 shows an example of the presentedservice menu 623, which is used to store data. In the menu, the RAID 604of the apparatus A 601 is designated as a highly reliable file withbackup function and the high-speed disk of the apparatus B 605 isindicates as a storage in which data can be stored in a short period oftime. In the service menu 636, the terminal and personal agents aregraphically shown in the upper-left corner of the screen. This meansthat the agents are ready for service requests. When an I/O access isrequired in response to a user's action in the service menu 623, thepersonal agent 622 executes retrieval through the personal agent serviceinformation control table 634 to conduct an I/O access when necessaryinformation is detected. If such necessary information is missing, thepersonal agent 622 requests the apparatus C 609 to accomplish retrievalthrough the terminal service information control table 633. If therequested information has already been registered, the terminal agent622 of the apparatus C 609 returns the conversion table 633 to thepersonal agent 622 as the request source. If the information is missing,the terminal agent 611 executes operation similar to that of the inquiryto finally acquire the necessary QOS table information. The terminalagent 611 updates the conversion table 633 of the apparatus E 619according to the attained QOS table information and then returnsinformation of the terminal service information conversion table 634 tothe personal agent 622. Thanks to the operation above, a service accessenvironment is prepared for the end user 624 in the apparatus E 619.

[0158] In FIGS. 25 and 27, the service selection is implemented in themenu format. However, the disk which provides services may be visualizedas an icon in the screen in the same manner as for presentation of theterminal and personal agents.

[0159]FIG. 28 shows an outline of constitution of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

[0160] In the embodiment, service information includes informationrelated to functions of reliability, availability, and security (RAS) ofinformation processing apparatuses.

[0161] In FIG. 28, a reference numeral 181 stands for a CPU, a numeral182 denotes a main storage, a numeral 183 indicates a host bus, anumeral 184 represents a bridge for achieving transformation between thehost bus 183 and an I/O bus 186, a numeral 187 indicates a networkinterface module connected to the I/O bus 186 for achieving conversionof data to and from a network line 190, and a numeral 188 designates anRAS information storage for keeping therein such information related tosystem reliability (to be referred to as RAS information herebelow) asinformation associated with power (whether or not power is dailysupplied 24 hours, whether or not a backup power supply is arranged, andwhether or not the power supply is structured in the duplexconfiguration), information related to the file system (whether or notthe file system is duplicated, whether or not the file system includes adisk array configuration, and the kind of file system, representatively,NFS), and information of other system devices (presence or absence offunctions to monitor failures, to detect failures, to notify failures,and to restore failures; or functions supported by the system).Moreover, in FIG. 28, a numeral 189 represents a multi-protocoltranslator for observing signals on the network line 190 and forreading, when a signal or message requesting information of reliabilityis sensed, necessary information from the RAS information storage 188independently of the system processing and state, thereby sending theinformation to the network line 190.

[0162] In the embodiment of FIG. 28, it is assumed that Ethernet totransfer information conforming to three communication protocols TCP/IP,IPX/SPX, and Apple Talk is installed on the network line 190 and themulti-protocol translator 189 can cope with these protocols.

[0163]FIG. 29 shows a processing flow of the translator 189 in FIG. 28.The translator 189 of FIG. 28 observes signals on the networkcommunication line 190. When a signal requesting RAS informationconforming to either one of STEP1, TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and Apple Talk,control is passed to step 2 to read RAS information from the RASinformation storage 188. Processing is then transferred from step 2 tostep 3 in which control is passed to step 4, 5, or 6 according to thecommunication protocol of the signal sensed in step 1.

[0164] When the communication protocol is TCP/IP in step 1, processingproceeds to step 4 to convert the attained RAS information according tothe TCP/IP protocol. Similarly, when the communication protocol isIPX/SPX in step 1, control is transferred to step 5 to transform the RASinformation according to the IPX/SPX protocol. Furthermore, when thecommunication protocol is Apple Talk in step 1, control is passed tostep 6 to convert the RAS information according to the Apple Talkprotocol. When the step 4, 5, or 6 is completed, control is transferredto step 7 to transmits the RAS information conforming to the pertinentcommunication protocol to the network.

[0165] After step 7 is processed, control is passed to step 1 torepeatedly accomplish the above processing flow. FIG. 30 shows anexample of the data format of RAS information data kept in the RASinformation storage of FIG. 28. In FIG. 30, the first eight-byte fieldbeginning at the offset address OH is loaded with header data of RASinformation, namely, character codes “RAS INFO”. In the subsequentbytes, there is stored RAS information of the system such as informationindicating whether or not the system has the functions to monitorfailures, to detect failures, to report failures, or to restore failuresor information denoting functions of the system.

[0166] Written in the first byte of the data area is a code designatingthe type of RAS information (type 0 denoting system information iswritten in this example). In the next n-byte field, there are storedinformation indicating whether or not the system is daily powered 24hours, information designating whether or not a backup power supply isdisposed, information indicating whether or not the power source isduplicated, and the like.

[0167] Similarly, written in the first byte of the data area is a coderepresenting the type of RAS information (type 1 denoting powerinformation is stored in this example). In the subsequent p bytes, thereare stored information related to the file system, for example,information designating whether or not the file is duplicated,information indicating whether or not there is employed the disk arrayconfiguration, and information denoting the type of the file system(representatively, NFS). Analogously, stored in the first byte of thedata area is a code representing the type of RAS information (type 2denoting file information is written in this example).

[0168] According to the embodiment above, when a request for informationof reliability is issued from an information processing apparatus or thelike on the network, there can be transmitted RAS information of thesystem regardless of the operation state of the terminal.

[0169] The multi-protocol translator 189 of the embodiment may becontrolled by the DCE support 156 and network I/F 155 of FIG. 8.

[0170] As can be appreciated from the above description, informationrelated to functions and performance of information processingfacilities connected to each other via a network is converted intoservice information to be supplied to the users. This leads to anadvantage that the user can much more directly receive the services.

[0171] Since service information is delivered to the users via theagents, the users need only establish interfaces with the agents. It isnot necessary for the users to pay attention to constitution of theapparatuses connected to the network.

[0172] Moreover, since the services common to the respective users aresupplied by the terminal agent, the contents of the services deliveredto the users can be altered at once by modifying the functions of theterminal agent.

[0173] The personal agent changes the contents of service informationsto be supplied via the user interface according to the utilization modeof each user such as the user's operation procedure or the utilizationfrequency of a particular service. Consequently, there can be provided auser interface optimal to each user.

[0174] Since the agents convert information of functions and performanceof the apparatuses on the network into service information for the usersaccording to the contents registered to the service information controltable, the contents of service information supplied to the users can bevaried by modifying the contents of the service information conversiontable. Namely, for this purpose, it is unnecessary to change thecontents of the QOS table of each apparatus.

[0175] According to the present invention, also when a new informationprocessing apparatus is connected to the network, information offunctions and performance of the apparatus is automatically registeredto the system. Consequently, the user can attain information of serviceswithout considering the configuration of the apparatus connected to thenetwork and the change in constitution thereof.

[0176] Since a broadcast communication is adopted as means to registerthe information of functions and performance to the information system,even when a new apparatus is connected to the network, the informationof functions and performance can be registered independently of theconstitution of the network.

[0177] According to the present invention, for an apparatus not having aQOS table, a predetermined benchmark test is executed to create a QOStable according to a result of the test. Consequently, information offunctions and performance of the apparatus can be effectively registeredto the system regardless of presence and absence of the QOS table.

[0178] Moreover, through an operation in which the contents of thebenchmark test are altered to execute the test in each apparatus on thenetwork so as to register a result of the test to the QOS table, the QOScriterion of the system is changed and hence the contents of serviceinformation are also modified for the users.

[0179] Thanks to an operation in which a benchmark test prepared by theuser is supplied to the system to execute the test for each apparatus toregister a result of the test to the service information conversiontable, information of functions and performance of an arbitrary items ofeach apparatus of the system can be advantageously added as serviceinformation to the system.

[0180] While the present invention has been described with reference tothe particular illustrative embodiments, it is not to be restricted bythose embodiments but only by the appended claims. It is to beappreciated that those skilled in the art can change or modify theembodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing system, comprising: aplurality of information processing apparatuses each having a table towhich information of functions and performance is registered; a networkfor connecting the plural information processing apparatuses to eachother; a directory connected to the network for controlling the tablesof the respective information processing apparatuses; and an agentfunction operable in either one of the information processingapparatuses for referencing contents of the control operation of thedirectory and supplying a user with the information of functions andperformance of information processing apparatuses registered to thetable.
 2. An information processing system according to claim 1, whereinthe agent function includes: a user associated operation for conductinga customizing operation for each user and thereby supplying the serviceinformation to the user; and an operation for supplying the user withservice information independent of any particular user.
 3. Aninformation processing system according to claim 1, wherein theinformation of functions and performance to be registered to the tableincludes either one of a transfer speed, a random input/outputperformance, an access time, a bit error ratio, a mean time to data loss(MTTDL), a mean time for data availability (MTDA).
 4. An informationprocessing system according to claim 1, wherein the information offunctions and performance to be registered to the table includes eitherone of a name of the information processing apparatus and a type,function, performance of an input/output device of the informationprocessing apparatus.
 5. An information processing system comprisinginformation processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to whichfunctions and performance to be supplied via a network to a user isregistered, wherein the apparatuses are connected to the network.
 6. Aninformation processing system, comprising: a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a table to which information offunctions and performance is registered; a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other; and a directoryconnected to the network for controlling the tables of the respectiveinformation processing apparatuses.
 7. An information processing system,comprising: a plurality of information processing apparatuses eachhaving a table to which information of functions and performance isregistered; a network for connecting the plural information processingapparatuses to each other; a local directory connected to the networkfor controlling the tables of the respective information processingapparatuses; and a global directory for controlling the local directory.8. An information processing system, comprising: a plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses each having a table to whichinformation of functions and performance is registered; a network forconnecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other;a directory connected to the network for controlling the tables of therespective information processing apparatuses; and an agent functionoperable in either one of the information processing apparatuses forreferencing contents of the control operation of the directory andconverting the information of functions and performance registered tothe table into service information, thereby supplying a user with theobtained service information.
 9. An information processing systemaccording to claim 8, wherein the information of functions andperformance to be registered to the table includes either one of atransfer speed, a random input/output performance, an access time, a biterror ratio, a mean time to data loss (MTTDL), a mean time for dataavailability (MTDA).
 10. An information processing system according toclaim 8, wherein the information of functions and performance to beregistered to the table includes either one of a name of the informationprocessing apparatus and a type, function, performance of aninput/output device of the information processing apparatus.
 11. Aninformation processing system, comprising: a plurality of informationprocessing apparatuses each having a QOS table to which information offunctions and performance is registered; a network for connecting theplural information processing apparatuses to each other; a localdirectory connected to the network for controlling a plurality of QOStables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set ofsmall-sized areas; a global directory for controlling a plurality oflocal directories in a global area of the unit of local areas; and anagent function operable in either one of the information processingapparatuses for referencing contents respectively of the global andlocal directories and converting the information of functions andperformance registered to the QOS table into service informationrepresenting quality of service, thereby supplying a user with theobtained service information.
 12. An information processing systemaccording to claim 11, wherein the agent function includes: a userassociated operation for conducting a customizing operation for eachuser and thereby supplying the service information to the user; and anoperation for supplying the user with service information independent ofany particular user.
 13. An information processing system according toclaim 11, wherein the agent function includes reading contents of theplural QOS tables registered to the local directory, detecting aplurality of common functions registered to the QOS tables, and creatinga service menu therefrom.
 14. An information processing system accordingto claim 13, wherein the agent function further includes generating aQOS menu for each of the services and supplying the user with the QOSmenu.
 15. An information processing system according to claim 11,wherein the QOS table includes as information of functions andperformance of the information processing apparatus either one of aresponse time, a processing performance per unitary time, and a transferspeed.
 16. An information processing system, comprising: a plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to whichinformation of functions and performance is registered; a network forconnecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other;a local directory connected to the network for controlling a pluralityof QOS tables in a unit of local areas, the local area being a set ofsmall-sized areas; a global directory for controlling a plurality oflocal directories in a global area of the unit of local areas andreceiving, when contents of the local directory are changed, anotification of change in the contents from the local directory; and anagent function operable in either one of the information processingapparatuses for supplying a user with the information of functions andperformance of the apparatus, wherein the agent modifies, according tocontents of the change in the global directory, contents of serviceinformation to be supplied to the user.
 17. An information processingsystem according to claim 16, wherein the local directory reads, when anew information processing apparatus is connected to the network, a QOStable of the new apparatus and registers the QOS table to the system.18. An information processing system according to claim 16, wherein thelocal directory deletes, when one of the information processingapparatuses is disconnected from the network, the QOS table of thedisconnected apparatus.
 19. An information processing system,comprising: a plurality of information processing apparatuses eachhaving a QOS table to which information of functions and performance isregistered; a network for connecting the plural information processingapparatuses to each other; a local directory connected to the networkfor controlling a plurality of QOS tables in a unit of local areas, thelocal area being a set of small-sized areas; a global directory forcontrolling a plurality of local directories in a global area of theunit of local areas; and an agent function operable in either one of theinformation processing apparatuses for referencing contents respectivelyof the global and local directories and converting the information offunctions and performance registered to the QOS table into serviceinformation representing quality of service, thereby supplying theobtained service information to a user via a user interface, wherein theagent changes, according to a utilization frequency of each service ofthe user and contents of utilization of services, contents of theservice information supplied to the user via the user interface.
 20. Aninformation processing system according to claim 19, wherein the agentfunction in the information processing apparatus includes: a serviceaccess agent for controlling the user interface; and a personal agentservice for achieving a customization corresponding to each user andsupplying the service information to the user; and a public agentservice for supplying a plurality of services shared among the users.21. An information processing system according to claim 20, wherein thepersonal agent service is disposed in a client which is a terminalequipment in any one of the plural information processing apparatusesand a copy of the personal agent service is arranged in a server whichachieves a control operation in the plural information processingapparatuses.
 22. An information processing system according to claim 19,wherein the agent function in the information processing apparatusincludes monitoring a state of each application software initiated byeach user and changing, according to a state of operation of theapplication software, contents of the service information supplied tothe user via the user interface.
 23. An information processing method,comprising the steps of collecting by an information processingapparatus information of each input/output device connected to a networkwhen the apparatus is activated and notifying the information to otherinformation processing apparatuses via the network.
 24. An informationprocessing method according to claim 23, wherein the notification isachieved by a broadcast communication.
 25. An information processingmethod, comprising the steps of transmitting a request for input/outputdevice information from an information processing apparatus when theapparatus is activated to other information processing apparatuses via anetwork and thereby collecting input/output information of theinformation processing apparatuses.
 26. An information processingmethod, comprising the steps of executing a predetermined benchmarkprogram for a new information processing apparatus connected to anetwork and registering a result of the test to a QOS table of adirectory.
 27. An information processing method according to claim 26,wherein the registration is achieved by a broadcast communication.
 28. Aservice supplying method for use with an information processing systemincluding a network and information processing apparatuses connectedthereto, comprising the steps of: collecting, when a request forinformation of a state of each section of the information processingapparatus is received via the network, the information of the state ofeach section independently of operation of the apparatus; andtransmitting the information to the network via a network interface ofstate monitor means for monitoring the state of each section.
 29. Aservice supplying method for use with an information processing systemincluding a network and information processing apparatuses connectedthereto, comprising the steps of: collecting, when a request forinformation of a state of each section of the information processingapparatus is received according to a communication protocol via thenetwork, the information of the state of each section independently ofoperation of the apparatus; converting the information according to thecommunication protocol; and transmitting the resultant information tothe network via a network interface of state monitor means formonitoring the state of each section.
 30. An information processingsystem, comprising: a plurality of information processing apparatuseseach having a QOS table to which information of functions andperformance is registered; and a network for connecting the pluralinformation processing apparatuses to each other; wherein any desiredone of the information processing apparatuses includes an agent functionfor referencing contents of the QOS tables of the plural apparatusesconnected to the network and converting the information of functions andperformance of the apparatuses registered to the QOS tables into serviceinformation representing quality of service, thereby supplying a userwith the obtained service information.
 31. A service supplying methodfor use with an information processing system in which a plurality ofinformation processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to whichinformation of functions and performance is registered are connected toeach other via a network, comprising the steps of: referencing, in anagent function of any desired one of the apparatuses, contents of theQOS tables of the plural apparatuses connected to the network; andconverting the information of functions and performance of theapparatuses registered to the QOS tables into service informationrepresenting quality of service, thereby supplying a user with theobtained service information.
 32. An information processing system,comprising a plurality of information processing apparatuses connectedto each other via a network, wherein any desired one of the apparatuscollects, when the apparatus is activated, information of input/outputdevices connected to the network and notifies the information to otherinformation processing apparatuses via the network.
 33. An informationprocessing system according to claim 32, wherein the notification isachieved by a broadcast communication.
 34. An information processingsystem, comprising a plurality of information processing apparatusesconnected to each other via a network, wherein any desired one of theapparatus issues, when the apparatus is activated, a request forinput/output device information to another information processingapparatus via the network and acquires the input/output informationthereof.
 35. An information processing system, comprising: a pluralityof information processing apparatuses each having a QOS table to whichinformation of functions and performance is registered; a network forconnecting the plural information processing apparatuses to each other;a local directory for controlling a plurality of QOS tables in a unit oflocal areas; a global directory for controlling the local directory in aglobal area of the unit of local areas; and an agent function operablein either one of the information processing apparatuses for referencing,when a service request is received from a user, contents of the localdirectory to which an agent function belongs; referencing, when there ismissing a QOS table matching the service requested by the user, thelocal directory of a local area at a hierarchic level higher than thatof the local area to which the agent function belongs or the globaldirectory of the global area; and converting, when there exists a QOStable matching the service requested by the user, the information offunctions and performance of the information processing apparatusregistered to the QOS table into service information representingquality of service, thereby supplying the obtained service informationto the user.